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How Much Does It Cost to Host a Website?

So, how much does it cost to host a website? Shared hosting (the cheapest kind) costs $2.75 – $15/month, and dedicated hosting (the most expensive kind) costs $80 – $730/month.

But there are a lot of options in mail365 between. There are several different types of hosting to choose from, and many different variables at play. We’ll go through the cost of each of the five most popular types of hosting in detail.

Extra Web Hosting Costs to ConsiderHow Much Does It Cost to Host a Website: Summary1

Web Hosting Costs Explained

Website hosting costs can vary, with prices starting as low as $2.75 per month and escalating all the way up to $729 – or even higher. The cost depends on a variety of factors, such as the type of website you have, how many monthly visitors you expect to have, and whether you need extra services such as automated backups and an email account.

Knowing the kind of website you want to run – or currently run – makes it easier to figure out what sort of hosting you need. You’ll also need to figure out the level of service you require.

A simple WordPress blog, for example, can start with a low-priced shared hosting service. Once that blog gains a high amount of popularity, however, it will inevitably require a more robust type of hosting with unlimited bandwidth limits or storage.

There are five types of hosting we’re going to discuss in this article, as they are the most commonly used by website owners.

Shared Hosting

This is beginner level web hosting. If you have a very low traffic website with a static page, or a WordPress blog, then this is the best option. Shared hosting is often the cheapest form of web hosting, but also the least robust, as your website is one of numerous sites sharing the resources of a single server.

VPS Hosting

Virtual private server hosting, or VPS hosting, is the next step up from shared hosting. The big difference is that for all intents and purposes, it appears as though you’re running your own server. In reality, your website is still one of several websites sharing a single server, but there are fewer websites sharing resources – meaning your site’s performance should be better.

Dedicated Hosting

With dedicated hosting, you are paying for your own server. Typically, these services are tiered based on how powerful your server will be, as well as whether the web host manages the service or the business manages it in-house. Not every dedicated hosting provider offers managed services, although some do.

Cloud Hosting

You’ve probably heard talk of “the cloud,” a nebulous term meant to describe online services like Dropbox or OneDrive. What it actually means is a cluster of servers working together, so that a web service never goes down (or goes down very infrequently). Cloud hosting, then, is a group of servers working together to keep your website up and running. If one server goes down, another picks up the slack, and so on. As you might imagine, cloud hosting doesn’t come cheap – but if you can’t afford even a few hours of down time, it might be the best option for you.

WordPress Hosting

Before we start, let’s be clear about one thing: you can run a WordPress site on pretty much any web hosting service. Managed WordPress hosting is not about running a WordPress site per se – it’s about getting a service that’s tuned to meet the needs of WordPress sites. That includes key features like 24/7 support and automated backups, or other items you may not get with regular shared hosting.

Not sure which hosting type is best for you? You can read our comparisons of:

VPS vs shared hosting

VPS vs dedicated hosting

WordPress vs cloud hosting

That’s the breakdown of all our web hosting services. Before we get into the specifics of web hosting costs, keep in mind that as your web hosting plan increases in features, it will usually increase in cost.

Take a look at HostGator’s shared hosting plan, for example. If you start with the cheapest plan, you can only use that plan for a single domain (web address). The two higher tiered plans, however, allow unlimited domains. The highest tier also has added benefits, like free search engine optimization tools and a dedicated IP address.

hostgator shared hosting prices

The more expensive the shared hosting plan you take out with HostGator, the more features you get.

Want to know which hosting provider is the most suitable for you? Take our 4 Question Quiz to find out which provider best fits your personal needs.

If you’d like to find out more about which providers we recommend for each type of hosting, take a look at the guides below.

Best Shared Hosting Services

Best VPS Hosting Providers

Best Dedicated Server Hosting

Best Cloud Hosting Providers

Best WordPress Hosts

How Much Does Website Hosting Cost?

Now let’s take a closer look at the costs of different types of hosting. A lot of the pricing you’ll see here is initial promotional pricing, where you pay a specific price for a certain amount of months or years of service. Once your promotional period is over, your monthly cost may go up.

Shared Hosting

$2.75 – $15 per month

Shared hosting is where most people start their web hosting journey.

Of the top five shared hosting providers, DreamHost offers the cheapest shared hosting plan at just $2.59/month. HostGator comes in a close second with $2.75, while Bluehost and InMotion’s top tier shared hosting plans are both at the pricer end, costing $13.95/month and $14.71/month respectively.

Host Entry Plan Mid-Tier Plan Highest Plan

InMotion $6.39 $8.49 $14.71

HostGator $2.75 $3.95 $5.95

A2 Hosting $3.92 $4.90 $9.31

Dreamhost $2.59 – $5.95

Bluehost $3.95 $5.95 $13.95

VPS Hosting

$5 – $80 per month

VPS hosting is the next step up from shared web hosting when traffic starts to increase on a website.

Of our top five VPS hosting providers, Bluehost and iPage are both offer the cheapest VPS hosting plans at $19.99/month each for entry-level plans, while iPage also offers the priciest top-tier VPS plan, at $79.99/month. On average Bluehost is cheapest across the three plans

Host Entry Plan Mid-Tier Plan Highest Plan

InMotion $29.19 $47.39 $69.34

A2 Hosting $32.99 $46.19 $65.99

Bluehost $19.99 $29.99 $59.99

iPage $19.99 $47.99 $79.99

HostGator $29.95 $39.95 $49.95

Dedicated Hosting

$80 – $730 per month

If you’ve decided to pay for your own server, traffic must be getting pretty serious, and your needs are outgrowing the lower tiered hosting plans.

Dedicated hosting is the most variably priced kind. Of our top five dedicated hosting providers, the cheapest plan comes from Bluehost at $79.99/month. Mid-tier plans are priced between $99.99/month and $349/month. The most expensive plan is Siteground’s $729/month top tier plan.

Host Entry Plan Mid-Tier Plan Highest Plan

HostGator $118.99 $138.99 $149.00

Bluehost $79.99 $99.99 $119.99

InMotion $105.69 $166.59 $238.99

A2 Hosting $141.09 $207.49 $290.49

SiteGround $269 $349 $729

Cloud Hosting

$4.50 – $240 per month

Cloud hosting is what you turn to when downtime could prove fatal to your business. This form of hosting makes sure there’s always a server on hand, ready to provide your website to the world.

Cloud hosting is relatively inexpensive. Of our top five providers, the most affordable plan comes from DreamHost at just $4.50/month. There can be quite a variation in what you get with a cloud hosting plan, and this is reflected in the cost; HostGator’s most expensive cloud hosting plan costs just $9.95/month, while SiteGround’s is $240/month.

Host Entry Plan Mid-Tier Plan Highest Plan

A2 Hosting $5 $10 $15

SiteGround $80 $160 $240

InMotion $21.04 $42.24 $69.34

HostGator $4.95 $6.57 $9.95

Dreamhost $4.50 $12 $48

WordPress Hosting

$4.99 – $290 per month

These plans are for those who need dedicated and specialized services designed just for WordPress sites and blogs.

Again, there can be quite a difference in what you get from one WordPress hosting plan to another, and this is reflected in the price. Of our top five WordPress hosting providers, SiteGround actually offers the cheapest plan at $3.95/month. WPEngine’s top tier plan is the priciest at $290/month.

Host Entry Plan Mid-Tier Plan Highest Plan

Bluehost $19.95 $29.95 $49.95

A2 Hosting $11.99 $18.99 $36.98

InMotion $4.99 $8.99 $11.99

WPEngine $35 $115 $290

SiteGround $3.95 $5.95 $11.95

Extra Web Hosting Costs to Consider

A hosting package is one thing, but there are often some “hidden” fees that you may not really think about until you’re already up and running. Beyond the hosting package, you need to own a domain name, for example. Sometimes your domain name registration is included in your hosting package, while other times, you turn to a domain registrar.

Here’s a breakdown of a few of the extra costs you should consider.

Domain Name Registration

Typically costs $10 to $15 per year

When you run a website, you need a domain name. This is the web address that you put on your business cards, shopping bags, and other company marketing materials. Most people opt for a .com domain name, but you can also choose from .net, .biz, or country-specific suffixes such as .ca or .us.

Domain name registration has some extra fees of its own, such as privacy protection, which keeps your name and address out of public WHOIS listings.

It’s also worth pointing out that keeping your domain name registration with your web hosting provider is not always the best choice. If you should ever want to leave your web host, having your domain registered with services such as Domain.com or GoDaddy makes that easier, as you’ll avoid the hassle (and potential cost) of transferring your domain to a new registrar.